Career choice

Occupational Therapy

Builds the skills for the job of living

A career in occupational therapy offers you a lifetime of possibilities that are…

Rewarding

Challenging

Diverse

• Use advanced technology to enable a young man to live independently after a spinal cord injury.

• Consult in schools to help children overcome writing difficulties and other learning challenges.

• Head up a disability management program for a national corporation.

• Assist an aging couple to care for one another in their own home.

• Travel to developing countries or war-besieged regions to help set up rehabilitation programs.

As an occupational therapist, you may:

Occupational therapy builds the skills for the job of living and solves problems that interfere with people’s ability to do activities or occupations that are important to them. These problems may be a result of injury, disease, social disadvantage, or the environment.

Occupational therapists work with people of any age to promote health, prevent disability, and develop or maintain abilities.

Occupational therapists are often part of a multi-disciplinary team and work in different settings like hospitals, schools, community health centres and workplaces.

What is occupational therapy?

Occupation refers to the activities and tasks of daily life that have value and meaning to a person. Occupations can include:

• self-care (i.e. personal care, mobility),• leisure (i.e. social activities, sports) and• productivity (play, school, employment, homemaking).

Occupational therapists assist a client to:• learn new ways of doing things.• adapt materials or equipment they use.• make changes to their environments.

Trends in occupational therapy

• From hospital to community, schools and workplaces

• From employee to independent practice and consultant

Some examples:

Home modifications Assistive technology

Ergonomics Workplace mental health

Learning challenges Medical-legal assessments

Research Education

Required education• Move to professional master’s level entry by 2010

Minimum of a B average (varies with programs).

Combination of pure, behavioural and social sciences.

Expect to do an undergraduate degree plus master’s; length varies with program.

Consider community college programs to qualify as occupational therapy assistants.

• Check specific details with each university program.

Occupational therapy education programs University of BC, Vancouver

University of Alberta, Edmonton

University of Manitoba, Winnipeg

University of Western Ontario, London

McMaster University, Hamilton

University of Toronto

University of Ottawa

Queen’s University, Kingston

McGill University, Montreal

University of Montreal

Laval University, Quebec City

Dalhousie University, Halifax

Fieldwork education

Part of education includes 1000 hours of supervised

fieldwork training

Registration

Must be licensed by the regulatory body in the province/territory where you’ll work. Some provinces require successful completion of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists certification exam.

Career starsMeet some occupational therapists...

CommunityPractice

Rehab BusinessOwner

Facility Planner — Accessibility

InternationalRehab Consultant / University Professor

Chose New Zealand for her second-year fieldwork placement, where she worked with prison inmates who were preparing for release.

Jenny now works helping teachers to successfully integrate children with disabilities into their classrooms.

Occupational therapy offers so much variety. I am so lucky that I can move to a different area of practice or even a different country if I decide I need a change. I couldn't be happier with my choice.

Jenny GardenCommunity occupational therapist

Min Kyi never complains that his job is boring. He's just about to spend an evening with a rock band roadie. Min's job is to carefully observe and measure—yes, literally measure— the amplifiers, the sound system and the height of the stage, so that he can assess what impact such physical work has on the man's body.

I don't think I could have chosen a better field.I have flexibility with my schedule that really suits my lifestyle.

I have a level of interaction with my clients that no other health professional has, and I know my work really makes a difference.

Min KyiPrivate Practice Occupational TherapistReturn to work/expert witness testimony

Former farmer, geological clerk and apartment block manager Pam chose occupational therapy because she likes figuring out the mechanics of how thingswork. Now she is an expert on thefascinating intricacies of how human beingsmove through and function in buildings, andshe couldn't be happier.

I fell in love with occupational therapy because it took me into the realm of human behaviour. I also needed to be practical. I couldn't study something like philosophy — I needed a marketable skill. I had four boys to feed!

Pam AndrewsFacilities Project LeaderFacilities Development & ConstructionVancouver General Hospital

When Rachel Thibeault graduated, she had no idea that her skillswould take her to some of the world’s most devastated, war-ravagedcountries.

Despite the suffering she has been so close to,Rachel remains determinedly optimistic about theunique potential of occupational therapy to healnot just individuals, but to contribute to the rebuildingof civil society in communities traumatized by terror and war.

Occupation is universal and the skills of occupational therapycan be easily exported into many contexts and situations.We do not have a limited vision. We don’t get lost in esoteric discourse.We remain rooted in what makes human life human.

Rachel ThibeaultInternational CommunityRehabilitation ConsultantProfessor of Occupational Therapyat the University of Ottawa

Do you enjoy...Working and helping people?Creative problem solving?Variety?

Are you…A good communicator?A team player?Accountable and responsible?Adaptable and flexible?Self-motivated?A self-starter?

Career checklist

Then find out more aboutoccupational therapy at:

www.caot.ca

www.otworks.ca

Produced by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists